Make it rain... Make it rain... Make it rain bolts on my head

Whew.

I'm done playthrough #1 of Ratchet & Clank. It seriously rocked my ass and was a worthy successor to the previous 3 PS2 versions. Smashing stuff to make it rain bolts just never gets old in my mind. I actually just played 20 minutes of the challenge mode (same game, but harder enemies and a challenge multiplier where you can literally coat the screen in shiny bolts) and am still wanting more.

Still, I need to discuss some obvious warts. This version really was not as polished as the previous versions in a few noticeable ways:

1. Broken features:
   
1. The Treasure Map was muddled -- it wasn't obvious where the Gold Bolts were at all.
2. The Helicopter Weapon was completely uncontrollable (at least by me) and made this weapon an expensive waste of time.
3. The Invert Y-axis option simply didn't work for Space Craft Controls, which made that aspect of the game pretty not fun for me.
   
2. UI foibles:
   
1. I remember in the first game it was really easy to scroll through all the worlds at a glance and tell which ones had open quests and hidden Gold Bolts. This was replaced with a model where individual worlds needed to be selected and expanded before you could tell whether they were worth returning to.
2. I can't remember if this was the case in previous versions, but you could exit vendors by pressing the "O" button. However, doing so often meant that I triggered a weapon blast by mistake

Six Axis Redux: In the end, I actually began to enjoy some of the Six Axis (tilt) features of the game. Aside from the obviously broken Helicopter controls (I mention above) and the somewhat tedious to control (but oh, so enjoyable when it works right) Tornado Launcher, the mini games were quite enjoyable.

• Flying was quite pleasurable (though occasionally the controls felt a little twitchy)
• The circuit board minigame was awesome (once I discovered that you could hold "X" to keep the ball in place)
• The jig dancing was fun (shake that booty)

All in all, an awesome experience and I can't wait to play more and I'm sure I'll write more.